DE. JENSEN 207'a source, of the Babylonian epic ; and that is why weare not allowed to argue up to the latter, but onlydown from it. If for a moment he is ready to admitthat Old Testament narrative coloured Luke's birth-story, and that (for example) the angel's visit in thefirst chapter of Luke was suggested by the thirteenthchapter of Judges, he speedily takes back the admis¬sion. Such an assumption is not necessary (" alleinnotig ist ein solche Annahme nicht "). " So much," he writes (p. 818), of John's person alone. Let us now pursue the Jesus Saga further. In the Gilgamesch Epic it is related how the Hunter marched out to Eabani with the holy prosti¬ tute, how Eabani enjoyed her, and afterwards pro¬ ceeded with her to Erech, where, directly or in his honour, a festival was held; how he there attached himself to Gilgamesch, and how kingly honours were by the latter awarded to him. We must by now in a general way assume on the part of our readers a know¬ ledge of how these events meet us over again in the Sagas of the Old Testament. In the numerous Gilgamesch Sagas, then [of the Old Testament], we found again this rencounter with the holy prostitute. And yet we seek it in vain in the three first Gospels in the exact context where we should find it on the supposition that they must embody a Gilgamesch Saga—that is to say, immediately subsequent to John's emergence in the desert. Equally little do we find in this context any reflex of Eabani's entry into the city of Erech, all agog at the moment with a festival. On the other hand, we definitely find in its original position an echo of Gilgamesch's meeting with Eabani.i ' P. 818. So weit von Johannis Person allein. Verfolgen wir nun die Jesus-Sage weiter. _ Im Gilgamesch Epos wird erzahlt, wie zu Eabani in der Wuste der Jager mit der Hierodule hinauszieht, wie Eabani ihrer habe geniesst, und dann mit ihr nach Erech kommt, wo grade oder ihm zu Ehre ein